


MEN CAN PROCESS TRAUMA TOO

by trashpup



Series: BAD THINGS HAPPEN BINGO [2]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:14:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28965180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashpup/pseuds/trashpup
Summary: With TK at work, Carlos curls up with a book, but what’s the worst that could happen?BTHB 2: Traumatic Touch Aversion
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: BAD THINGS HAPPEN BINGO [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2107794
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	MEN CAN PROCESS TRAUMA TOO

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE pay attention to the warnings!!!!  
> *the rape/non-con is NOT with TK, it’s with someone else.

It wasn’t unusual for Carlos to lounge around at home on his days off. Admittedly, he liked curling up on the couch with a good book and waiting for TK to text when he got a chance. It made Carlos happy, TK was spending more and more time at his place than at his dad’s and that’s how most of TK’s things ended up in Carlos’ house and he couldn’t be happier.

With TK still at work for another two hours, Carlos found himself curled up on the couch, engrossed in his latest novel. He didn’t hear the door open and close, he didn’t hear the floorboard creak in the entryway. By the time he did hear a noise - and managed to look up and around for the source - it was too late. 

“Neal? Get out of my house,” Carlos snapped his book shut and went to stand up, but before he could draw himself to his full height, Neal pushed him back onto the couch. 

Carlos’ mind flashed to the first time he and TK hooked up, he’d done a similar thing to TK that Neal had just done to him and he couldn’t help but think Neal was going to try something. TK would never forgive Carlos for this. 

“Neal, stop, I don’t want you here, please leave,” Carlos said, trying to keep a level head about the whole situation, knowing Neal’s past history with violence. He couldn’t afford to piss him off. 

“I don’t care what you want, I’m getting what I deserve, what you’ve kept me from but you’ve decided that pretty city boy gets it whenever,” Neal was already amped up, Carlos knew he was fucked, just going off of size difference and availability of weapons. 

Carlos was a decent size, he worked out, he was in good shape, but Neal… Neal was double the size, double the testosterone, and put in some toxicity to boot. Carlos prayed to every deity he could think of, just hoping that Neal wasn’t here for what Carlos thought he was. 

“I can’t believe you would cheat on me with the city boy; ain’t he got issues?” Neal sneered, leaning over Carlos and rubbing his crotch with the heel of his hand. “Now, let’s get you outta those pants so I can properly get you off.”

“I’m telling you no, I don’t want to,” Carlos said, trying to fight Neal off of him, hoping he could at least throw Neal off balance long enough to get to his weapon. “Neal, I’ll call the cops.”

“Your little cop buddies can’t do shit if you’re dead,” Neal put his hands on Carlos’ neck, squeezing to cut off air flow completely. Carlos choked, trying to gasp in a breath as Neal repositioned himself and his hands. 

Carlos continued to struggle, knowing he was making it worse for himself, but part of him couldn’t just give up. Maybe it was the first responder in him, but he knew he had to fight until he couldn’t. Carlos struggled; he was smaller than Neal and Neal was stronger than he remembered.

He put up a good fight, but in the end, he didn’t stand a chance, he blacked out and that was it, he was either going to die or Neal would spare him and maybe just stab him once or twice. 

When he woke up, the first thing he felt was Neal’s weight on top of him. The first thing he heard was Neal groaning, obviously pleasuring himself. Carlos stiffened his body and immediately went into a panic. 

“No! You weren’t supposed to wake up!” Neal paused for a split second, caught off guard by Carlos moving around. It was enough of a distraction that Carlos was able to get the upper hand and push Neal away. 

It hurt. It hurt a lot and Carlos couldn’t stop to think about it, he had to subdue Neal before he didn’t get another chance. He looked down at the coffee table in front of him where Neal had placed his gun and he grabbed it before turning back to the man and hit it against his temple over and over until he toppled over, unconscious. 

Carlos didn’t know how much time he had until Neal woke up, so he carefully stood up and went searching for rope or a zip tie instead of trying to figure out if he had a pair of handcuffs. He also found his discarded boxers and pants and shirt, not necessarily wanting to put them back on, but he knew there would be police and paramedics in his house soon.

He looked around for his phone on his way back, spotting it on the table where he’d left it. He picked it up and noticed how badly his hands were shaking, so instead of holding it, he set it back down and unlocked his phone and clicked onto the phone app, dialling 9-1-1. He listened to it ring as he bent down and moved Neal to his stomach and grabbed his wrists so he could tighten the zip tie around his wrists.

_9-1-1, what’s your emergency?_

Carlos took a breath and started, “This is Carlos Reyes, I’m at my home - the address is 4913 West Cherry Street - I was just assaulted. The man is still here, he is unconscious, I hit him in the head with his gun. The gun is still on the scene, completely empty, no bullets in the chamber, it will have my fingerprints as well as his. I would send medical as well.”

He stayed on the line with the operator until the police arrived and then thanked her for her help. Then everything passed in a blur, he wanted to block everything out for the time being, it hurt so much. 

∆

When the police and paramedics finally left, Carlos laid back on the couch and finally let himself mentally assess how he was feeling; he was aching and all he could do was cry. 

So, he allowed himself to cry. He allowed himself to start processing what had happened given the events that occurred before Neal choked him and after he woke up. Carlos was allowed to feel sorry for himself. He knew he deserved it, but there was still a small voice in the back of his head telling him he didn’t deserve to feel sorry for himself, telling him that he just needed to man up.

After half an hour of laying on the couch, crying and going over what happened, Carlos slowly made his way to a standing position, then quietly walked to the bedroom so he could shower off the gross feelings and put comfy pyjamas on. 

He looked up at the clock in the bedroom, seeing that TK would be home within the next hour. He was grateful that TK was going to be home soon because he wanted the company of someone else, someone he actually liked and wanted to be around. Someone he loved.

As he waited for the water to heat up, Carlos looked at himself in the mirror above the vanity, tilting his head up and to the sides to see if Neal had left any marks. He saw a few fingerprint marks that would fade and disappear within the next day or so. When he took inventory of the rest of his body, however, that’s when he found the scratches on his stomach and hips. 

Overall, there wasn’t going to be any lasting physical evidence of Neal, but Carlos had responded to enough domestic disturbance calls that he knew there would be lasting psychological problems. He hoped that the faster he could fully process this, the easier it would be.

He stepped away from the vanity and stepped into the shower, taking his time in washing his body, maybe a little more forceful than usual. He wanted to make sure there was no part of his body that was left unclean, especially after Neal had come back and assaulted him. 

Carlos heard his phone buzz once, twice, then a third. He figured it must just be TK getting off his shift. He quickly finished rinsing off his body and turned the water off before grabbing his towel and stepping out into the bathroom. He looked at the texts on his phone and saw that he was right. 

TK had texted him a message just saying ‘hi’ with two little heart emojis, followed by a picture of Buttercup, followed by a text telling Carlos that he was heading out. Carlos lived twenty minutes away from the firehouse, which meant he only had sixteen more minutes until TK was here. 

Carlos dried the rest of his body and slipped into a new pair of boxers, new pyjama bottoms, and a hoodie. He threw his towel into the dirty hamper and went into the bedroom. He climbed into the bed and tucked himself under the sheets, curling up into a ball and closing his eyes, willing his body and brain to shut off so he could rest. 

∆

TK arrived to a silent home, he stood in the foyer and waited to see if he could hear anything from any room in the house. When he didn’t hear anything he started looking in each room, the living room, kitchen, and dining room were all empty, so TK headed down the hall to the master bedroom, spotting a Carlos shaped lump in bed. 

TK quietly walked over and ran a hand through Carlos’ hair, getting a reaction from the other man. Carlos looked around frantically before setting eyes on TK and then his body visibly relaxed and he broke down into tears, his entire body shook as he tried to control himself. 

“Carlos? What’s wrong, babe?” TK asked, sitting down on the bed next to Carlos. He tried to put a hand on Carlos’ neck, knowing that sometimes the other man liked to feel just a little bit of pressure as reassurance. 

When TK touched Carlos’ neck, Carlos couldn’t stop his reaction fast enough, he’d flinched hard enough and automatically put his arm up to stop TK from touching him. Luckily, TK understood and was able to pull his arm away.

“Okay, seriously Carlos, what’s going on? Are you okay?” TK asked, keeping his voice soft. Something must’ve happened that he doesn’t know about. “You don’t even have to tell me what happened, just tell me what I can do to help.”

Carlos explained everything, he had to pause a few times to collect himself, but he did it, he didn’t allow himself to bottle his emotions up, he communicated with a loved one about something and he’d even told TK what he could do to help. 

Carlos’ idea of TK helping was getting into bed and holding Carlos until they eventually fell asleep. It wasn’t a lot, but it’s what Carlos knew would make him feel better and TK was happy to be the big spoon.


End file.
